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Before he started a company 15 years ago selling the world’s smelliest fruit, Eric Chan had a well-paying job writing code for satellites and robots. His family and friends were puzzled when he made the career change.
15年前，在埃里克·陈创立公司去卖世界上最臭的水果之前，他有一份高薪工作，是为卫星和机器人编写代码。当他转行时，他的家人和朋友们都感到疑惑不解。
The fruit, durian, has long been a cherished part of local cultures in Southeast Asia, where it is grown in abundance. A single durian is typically the size of a rugby ball and can emit an odor so powerful that it is banned from most hotels.
这种水果是榴莲，一直是东南亚当地文化中备受珍视的组成部分，东南亚盛产榴莲。单个榴莲一般有橄榄球那么大，并且会散发出非常浓烈的气味，以至于大多数酒店都禁止将榴莲带入房间。
When Mr. Chan began his start-up in his native Malaysia, durians were cheap and often sold from the back of trucks. Then, China acquired a taste for durian in a very big way.
当陈先生在他的家乡马来西亚开始创业时，榴莲很便宜，经常放在卡车后面出售。然后，中国人大规模地喜欢上了榴莲。
Last year, the value of durian exports from Southeast Asia to China was $6.7 billion, a twelvefold increase from $550 million in 2017. China buys virtually all of the world’s exported durians, according to United Nations data.
去年，东南亚向中国出口榴莲的贸易额为67亿美元，与2017年的5.5亿美元相比增长了12倍。根据联合国的数据，全球所有出口的榴莲几乎都是中国买了。
Today, businesses are expanding rapidly -- one Thai company is planning an initial public offering this year -- and some durian farmers have become millionaires. Mr. Chan is one of them.
如今，榴莲生意正在迅速扩张——一家泰国公司计划今年进行IPO——而且一些榴莲种植户已经成为百万富翁。陈先生就是他们中的一员。
Seven years ago, he sold a controlling share of his company, which specializes in producing durian paste for cookies, ice cream and even pizza, for the equivalent of $4.5 million, nearly 50 times his initial investment.
七年前，他卖掉了自己公司的控股权，这家公司专门生产用于饼干、冰淇淋甚至披萨的榴莲酱，控股权卖了450万美元，几乎是他初始投资的50倍。
“Everybody has been making good money,” Mr. Chan said of the once-poor durian farmers in Raub, a small city 90 minutes from Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital. “They rebuilt their houses from wood to brick. And they can afford to send their children overseas for university.”
“所有人都在赚大钱，”陈先生谈到曾经贫穷的劳勿榴莲种植户时说，劳勿是一个距离马来西亚首都吉隆坡90分钟路程的小城市，“他们把木头房子翻新成砖房。而且他们还供得起孩子去国外上大学。”
Farmers in Southeast Asian durian orchards say they can’t recall anything like the China craze. When an increasingly wealthy country of 1.4 billion people gets a taste for something, entire regions of Asia are reshaped to meet the demand.
东南亚榴莲果园的农民说，他们不记得曾经有过像中国这样的榴莲热潮。当一个拥有14亿人口且日益富裕的国家对某种东西产生兴趣时，整个亚洲地区都会为满足其需求而重塑。
In Vietnam, state news media reported last month that farmers were cutting down coffee plants to make room for durian. The acreage of durian orchards in Thailand has doubled over the past decade.
在越南，官方新闻媒体上个月报道称，农民们正在砍掉咖啡树，为榴莲腾出空间。泰国榴莲果园的种植面积在过去十年中翻了一番。
In Malaysia, jungles in the hills outside Raub are being razed and terraced to make way for plantations that will cater to China’s lust for the fruit. “I think durian will be the new economic boom for Malaysia,” said Mohamad Sabu, the country’s minister of agriculture.
在马来西亚，劳勿郊外山区的丛林正在被夷为平地并被开垦成梯田，为种植园让路，以满足中国对榴莲的狂热需求。“我认为榴莲将成为马来西亚新的经济繁荣点。”该国农业部长穆罕默德·萨布说。
